It is finally here. Baseball in Chicago starts this week and I couldn’t be happier. The White Sox open their season April 5 on the South Side against the Cleveland Indians and the Sox general manager has deemed it a “blackout.” The North Side Cubs will start their season on the road against the Atlanta Braves on the same day.

Everyone across the country will be celebrating America’s pastime, even the president. The self-proclaimed die-hard White Sox fan will throw the first pitch on Opening Day in Washington, D.C., when the Nationals play the Philadelphia Phillies, a 100-year old tradition.

As a Sox fan myself, there are no hard feelings toward the president. He supports the team every chance he gets, often donning a White Sox hat in his leisure time. Even though he’ll be supporting the Nationals on April 5, we Sox fans know where his heart really is and I’m sure he’d much rather be at “The Cell.”

Hopefully this year my favorite team will get it together and return to the championship club they were in in 2005, though the roster has drastically changed since those days. I believe we have the best general manager in Kenny Williams and the absolute best manager in Ozzie Guillen. We also have a talented team, so there are no excuses.

Perhaps this year we may even stop being the “second team” of the “second city.” In the past, because the Tribune owned the Cubs, I and many others believe there was biased coverage of the Sox, including the coverage in the newspaper and the Tribune-owned WGN TV station. But now because Tom Ricketts and his family have taken over the Cubs, that may be a thing ofthe past.

As for the North Siders, another season begins for them too. There will be new management, new ideas and apparently a new Toyota billboard that has many fans in an uproar.  As the season gets underway, many will get their hopes up in belief that this could actually be “the year” for them. Face it Cubs fans, this year will be just like the last 102. The season will end in disappointment and dramatic, die-hard fans will have a “memorial service” in early October. But even if the Cubs have a winning season, let’s not go to the extreme and believe  they will advance to the World Series and actually win it.

But no matter what side you cheer for in this segregated city, we can all be happy that baseball is back and we have the luxury of enjoying it for the next six months.

jdavenport@chroniclemail.com